Skip James is one of the most revered Delta blues artists of the 20th century. His high, haunted vocal style and bone-chilling acoustic guitar work gave him a sound that set him apart from his peers. The recordings he made in the early 1930s are among the most powerful in the blues canon. However, he quit music not long after that and was out of the public eye for decades until he was rediscovered and coaxed out of retirement in the '60s. He became a hero of the '60s folk revival in the US and an inspiration to the British blues boom, and his songs were covered by everyone from Cream to John Fahey. James got plenty of media attention in the early 2000s as well, his music playing a vital role in both the 2000 film GHOST WORLD and the Wim Wenders-directed portion of Martin Scorsese's 2003 documentary series THE BLUES.